Global Research

Open Letter to the Canadian Prime Minister

Dear Mr. Martin,

Freedom of speech, democracy and human rights have been on your platform before, yet I wonder where they might be today. You have jailed a Canadian citizen for speaking out against you, your racist policies against Haitians and against murdering thousands of innocent citizens in one of the world’s poorest nations, Haiti. Shame on you.

Yves Engler, a member of the Canada Haiti Action Network, who recently heckled you at your talk in Montreal, has been a thorn in your rose of rule for some time now, but jailing a citizen for more than 4 days under the charge of heckling is complete absurdity and violates any of his or my rights to freedom of thought. Although there were others speaking out against you at that same talk, you targetted Engler specifically, perhaps because the thought of the truth about your actions in Haiti run a deep chill or fear through your spine. You have demonstrated that liberty is but a word and that freedom in this country is inexistant.

I urge you to release Engler with apology and no charges. He is a journalist and a person with an opinion. Until today, I thought at the very least, we were permitted opinions in this country.

In the words of Engler, “Martin lies, Haitians die”.

I do hope I too am not jailed for saying that now infamous line.

Marcella Adey

Open Letter to the Prime Minister

Dear Prime Minister Martin,

It’s me again. Writing this time not about another priest arrested, beaten and jailed in Haiti by the puppet regime you illegally and violently imposed on the People of Haiti. Today I am writing about the outrageous arrest and detention of a fellow Canadian activist for peace (with justice), Mr. Yves Engler. His crime is apparently that, while attending a Montreal electoral event of yours, he said too loudly and too clearly that your Haiti policy is criminal.

Mr. Martin, how many jail cells are there in Canada? I sincerely hope none of us shall be deported to Syria or Guantanamo. Because, whatever you do, the truth will continue to come out about the criminal policy that your government has been and is implementing in Haiti.

Take a look at the recent DFAIT consultation on “failed states” and you will notice that virtually, every time the name Haiti is mentioned, Canadians who have researched to subject recognize that Yves Engler is right. The racist regime change your government organized in Haiti turned out to be a shame for all Canadians. http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/cip-pic/current_discussions/group-en.asp?topic_id=36&bnum=12

The more you try to cover it up, the more you will make people want to dig into the subject. And, the more they dig, the more they will find.

For one thing, there will continue to be demands for the release of the complete (unedited) minutes of the Ottawa Initiative (the secret Meech Lake meeting of January 31 February 1 2003)

 http://dominionpaper.ca/weblog/2004/08/cbcs_the_current_discusses_canadas_coupplotting_in_haiti.html

…when it was decided among several western leaders, at the invitation of Minister Denis Paradis to 1) Overthrow President Aristide’s government 2) Put Haiti under U.N. tutelage and 3) reinstate the murderous army of the CIA in Haiti, also known as FAdH – to protect the interests of the unofficial apartheid system in Haiti where a klan of foreign companies, diplomats, local sweatshop magnates (and some modern missionaries re-christened NGO) rule supreme over the bones of millions of black women and men sweating over long hours for slave wages.

 http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/FEN411A.html

As you can see in the attached, it is well documented now, how your team has mischievously avoided all efforts to clean up the mess it has helped create in Haiti.

Strangely and without any explanation, a meeting of the House Sub-Committee on Humans Rights scheduled for June 14, 2005 got cancelled at the very last minute and instead, Minister Pettigrew and your Special Advisor on Haiti, Mr. Coderre got to rehash the same denial script they have been using all along about Haiti at a June 14, 2005 meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee. There again, both men described all the reports of documented human rights horrors taking place in post-coup Haiti from Amnesty International, the Miami School of Law, the Harvard School of Law, etc… as trash put out by the partisans of Jean-bertrand Aristide – “Lavalas Propaganda” they say.

Then another meeting called by NDP Foreign Affairs critic Alexa McDonough, was agreed upon but Mr. Pettigrew dragged his feet and refused to identify a date for the meeting until when it was clear that the government was going to fall on November 28 – so he suggested the 29th of November to hold the meeting on Haiti.

To add to the irony, guess when Mr. Pettigrew decided to reply to my September appeal on behalf of jailed priest and potential presidential candidate Gérard Jean-Juste? You’ve guessed it, November 28th – after announcement of the fall of your government.

So, I understand why Mr. Yves Engler is jailed. At least the RCMP in Montreal does not operate wearing ski masks and huge AK47 and Uzis pointing at 1 year old infants… not yet !

About the fate of Amnesty International Prisoner of Conscience, Father Gérard Jean-Juste, Mr. Pettigrew wrote to me: “Canada believes that legal proceedings should be initiated if there is sufficient evidence for charges to be laid with respect to the alleged involvement of Father Jean-Juste in the death of Mr. Jacques Roches. If sufficient evidence does not exist, international standards and Haiti’s own legal system require that he be released promptly”.

Reading such an outrageous and cynical statement from Mr. Pettigrew who knows quite well that father Jean-Juste is kept in prison by his stooges in Haiti strictly for political reasons, one can easily imagine him busy consulting his friends in Haiti to decide what charges could rapidly be laid against our own colleague Yves Engler.

After all, the puppets also have a responsibility to protect their masters’ bottom line.

We will not disappear. Truth and justice shall prevail !

FREE ENGLER ! FREE HAITI ! FREE CANADIAN FOREIGN POLICY FROM “White man burden” RACIST IDEOLOGY BEING RECYCLED IN 2005!

Jean Saint-Vil Gatineau, Québec http://www.canadahaitiaction.ca  http://www.outofhaiti.ca

Response From Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew

From : [email protected] Date: November 28, 2005 5:58:29 PM

Dear Jean Saint-Vil:

Thank you for your e-mail of September 9, 2005, concerning the arrests of Messrs. Kevin Pina and Jean Ristil, and Father Gérard Jean-Juste in Haiti.

I am pleased to inform you that American journalist Kevin Pina and Haitian journalist Jean Ristil were released on September 12, 2005. With regard to the continued detention of Father Jean-Juste, Canada believes that legal proceedings should be initiated if there is sufficient evidence for charges to be laid with respect to the alleged involvement of Father Jean-Juste in the death of Mr. Jacques Roches. If sufficient evidence does not exist, international standards and Haiti’s own legal system require that he be released promptly.

The Government of Canada remains concerned about the security, human rights, and democratic development situation in Haiti. Canada is playing a leadership role in the international efforts to restore security and stability in Haiti through our participation in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), to which Canada has made a major civilian police contribution. The re-establishment of viable, effective Haitian institutions in the security sector-including the police, correctional and judicial systems-is critical to ensuring respect for human rights and the rule of law, and sustained stability. On June 22, 2005, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1608 renewing the mandate of MINUSTAH until February 2006. Security is still a very serious problem in Haiti and MINUSTAH is part of the solution. Should you wish to learn more about MINUSTAH’s operation in Haiti, I invite you to visit their Web site at www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/minustah.

The Canadian government is also assisting in longer-term reform and reconstruction efforts and has more than quadrupled its long-term development assistance engagement. Canada continues to emphasize that a comprehensive plan to address the issues of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of all armed groups is critical to re-establishing longer-term security in Haiti and to facilitating national reconciliation efforts and sustainable development. For further information on Canada’s contribution in Haiti, I invite you to visit the Web site of Foreign Affairs Canada at www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/cip-pic/library/reconstructinghaiti-en.asp.

In March 2004, the Transitional Government of Haiti and the international community, including Canada, agreed to launch a new partnership, known as the Interim Cooperation Framework (ICF), to respond to Haiti’s urgent social, economic, and institutional needs. Canada is contributing more than $180 million over two years to support Haiti reconstruction and development efforts. Canada’s ongoing support to Haiti through the ICF will build on existing areas of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) expertise, including health, education, local development, economic governance, and institutional development. It will also contribute to building an environment conducive to fair and credible elections. Additional information is available on CIDA’s Web site at www.acdi-cida.gc.ca.

The Government of Canada organized a conference with the Haitian Diaspora in Montréal, on December 10 and 11, 2004, to acknowledge the importance of the Diaspora’s role in Haiti, to obtain its support for Canada’s efforts to revitalize the democratic process in Haiti in 2005, and to explore various means of tangibly contributing to the reconstruction project in Haiti. The ideas and needs expressed during this conference helped Canada determine which mechanisms will best support initiatives by the Diaspora in conjunction with the implementation of the ICF.

On March 16 and 17, 2005, I travelled to Haiti accompanied by my colleague, the Honourable Denis Coderre, Special Adviser for Haiti, and six members of the Haitian Diaspora in Canada. During meetings with interim government officials, members of political parties and the Provisional Electoral Council, I reiterated Canada’s support for the initiation of the national dialogue and for the re-initiation of the democratic process in preparation for elections in the fall of 2005. This trip also allowed us to prepare for our participation in the March 18, 2005 Ministerial Conference on Haiti held by France in Cayenne, French Guiana. The Cayenne Conference, in addition to being an occasion to reiterate Canada’s engagement in Haiti, offered an opportunity to explore and identify 380 projects for implementation in 2005 for the benefit of the Haitian population.

As well, the Montréal International Conference on Haiti, which was held on June 16 and 17, 2005, provided an update on gains and difficulties one year after the mobilization of the MINUSTAH and the launching of the ICF. The Transitional Government of Haiti presented its priorities in the areas of security, energy, the start of the next school year, and rapid job creation. Immediate mobilization of nearly US$30 million will help strengthen Haiti’s government action in these areas. In addition, to increase election credibility and to strengthen the climate of trust, a proposal was made to set up an international mission to oversee the electoral process in Haiti. Elections Canada has been selected to set up this mission.

Thank you again for taking the time to write.

Sincerely,

Pierre S. Pettigrew